1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power line communication (PLC), and more particularly, to a packet aggregation method and apparatus in a PLC network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power line communication (PLC) network is one of a plurality of local communication networks. PLC technology uses existing power lines in houses. Accordingly, unlike Ethernet, a PLC network does not need additional wiring, and can be used in basements or shaded areas that wireless technology cannot reach.
Packets transmitted through a network include header information for transmission control, flow control and link control, in addition to data desired to be transmitted. This header information lowers the efficiency of data transmission through a network. To address this problem, a packet aggregation technique is used.
However, since it is difficult to apply an ordinary packet aggregation technique used in a wireless local area network (WLAN) directly to a PLC network, a packet aggregation technique suitable for a PLC network is needed.